Bringing the Inclusive Love of Christ into the Buckle of the DixieBelt

Daily Devotional: Carried On the Savior’s Strong Shoulders

Psalm 93 depicts God’s throne being sure, unshakeable, as a sign that all is steady and secure. It uses the imagery of the forces of nature being regular and constant as a sign of God’s steadfast reign. Since God is secure, our lives can be secure.

To me, though it is a different image altogether, I find myself moving from this Biblical image to the image of an Atlas-type figure, holding up the sphere of the earth on his shoulders. It will not be shaken because of the presence of this One.

Ultimately that image breaks down for all things are bound together in a web of life, a web woven by the Living One we Christians know as Father, Son, and mothering Holy Spirit but who is known by other names in other faith traditions. And that One is both the weaver of this tapestry of life and also its center.

Yet there is a reassurance in the image of the earth, the world, and our lives, as something able to rest on the strong shoulders of another – or upon the same foundation of an unshakeable throne.

Ultimately so much of our lives feels just the opposite. We feel shaken by trial, by our illness or the illness of a loved ones, we feel shaken by doubt and uncertainty, by relationship issues. In truth, we can even feel shaken by things going rightly. I know, for me, sometimes I reach the point where I receive what I’ve asked for and I feel shaken too. Sometimes it is by the fear that somehow it isn’t real, when I have trouble believing God is truly the giver of every good gift, and I expect the blessings before me to be yanked away. Sometimes it is by the realization that what is right in front of me, this answered prayer, is not quite what I expected. In those moments I am nervous about the commitment this gift might bring with it, the responsibility it calls forth. Or the fact that open door must now be walked through – which involves a risk, and rarely one taken at my pace. It is hard for me to trust, as this Psalm calls us to do.

What makes it hard to trust, hard to hand this moment, this life, myself, fully into the care of the Living One who embraces me fully and builds my life on a bedrock foundation is also what helps make all of these images such a boon for me. I need this reassurance, this reminder, that I am held. That I am kept. That I am secure.

May that reassurance fill you and grant you faith this day and always.